Real Moms - Telling it like it is...

August 09, 2011

I am so proud to announce that we have passed up my old record of breastfeeding. My oldest only breastfed for 8 months and it wasn't exclusive. She had supplementation with formula from about 5 months on because I went back to work and did not respond well to pumping. I couldn't even pump enough for one bottle (yes I tried multiple pumps). My newest little one, T, has been going strong on just breast milk for 8 1/2 months now. I know it's not that much more than my oldest, but it is a great accomplishment to me that it has been exclusive. She refused any formula, even when I was briefly hospitalized for my kidney. It definitely has not been an easy smooth road but it has been enjoyable to say the least. The waking up at all hours of the night is well worth the special bond I have with my girls. Now we are experiancing teeth and adjusting her latch to accomidate that. I never got to this point with my oldest so this is all new to me. And as long as she wants to continue, we will!

March 23, 2011

I have been hit with some financial turmoil in the last few years and as a result I have become a thrifty shopper. I have done my fair share of super couponing and reaped the rewards of giant savings. Nothing feels better than knowing that you can put food on the table for your kids. And when you go to the grocery and walk away with 8 bags of groceries for the low price of 19 cents, you know that your effort was worth it.

But let’s face it, extreme couponing takes an extreme amount of time. You spend your time pouring over store ads, locating and clipping coupons, and ultimately going to 8 different stores to get everything on your list for free or near free. However, the average person is not going to do what I have done. The average person wants to get a deal, but not pay for it in time. The things I plan to discuss in this series will be ways to save money with minimal effort.

Just to start us off, I would like to talk about an organization that works through a network of churches. It is called Angel Food Ministries. They offer food each month at a discount they receive for purchasing in bulk. You can order your food online or in person at the church. And you can even use food stamps with them. There is no income requirement to purchase their food. Everyone is eligible. The food that you receive is not brand name, however, it is good. I have ordered from them several times. It is a really easy way to get a good deal with minimal effort. The only catch is that you order and pay about two weeks ahead of receiving your food.

I encourage you to visit their website at www.angelfoodministries.com. You can see their current month’s menu and see what churches in your area participate.

March 18, 2011

So as I was digging around for something interesting in science this week I found an article about a potential vaccine for a specific type of brain tumor - a dendritic cell vaccine for mesenchymal glioblastomas.

A glioblastoma is a tumor caused by rapid growth and reproduction of glial cells - these cells are essentially support cells for the neurons. Mesenchymal glioblastomas(MG) are a highly specific subset of glioblastomas where the cells have certain genes that are similar to mesenchymal stem cells - whose job it is to grow and differentiate into many different cell types.

The vaccine is not what I would call a vaccine - it is more of a treatment and vaccines are commonly a preventative. This vaccine consists mainly of dendritic cells - these are a specific type of immune system cell - which is used as a treatment for a person who has already been identified as having a glioblastoma and the main tumor mass has been removed. These dendritic cells target specific molecules produced by MG cells and present these to the other cells of the immune system. This triggers the immune system to react and attack the tumor cells - hopefully destroying the tumor and preventing regrowth. One of the fascinating things about this vaccine is that it is tailored specifically to each individual and their specific tumor cells. The dendritic cells are removed from the patient, as are tumor cells - these are mixed together in culture to strengthen and train the dendritic cells so they know exactly what cells to target and present to the rest of the immune system. It takes about two weeks for the dendritic cells to go through their boot camp after which they are administered to the patient until the tumor grows back - if it does.

This vaccine is currently still in trials but seems to have a significant success rate indicating that it may be a good candidate for treating this very aggresive form of brain tumor.

On this note if you were just thinking to yourself "I want to help someone who has this cancer" here you go - http://brandiandchris.blogspot.com/ . I've been following their blog as their daughter was born around the same time as the betty's bittys. She has glioblastoma and has thankfully been doing well with her treatments.

I first found out I was pregnant at 7 weeks. I had an inclination before, but due to an earlier miscarriage decided to wait to take a test. At 10 weeks I went to my Dr. and the rest is history. I'm a 27 year old first time mom, who worked up until the day before I had my daughter.

A friend of mine turned me on to Babycenter, she said it was a great way to meet women going through what I'm going through. So I'd go on and read what others had posted and usually not comment. A few months into the pregnancy I noticed how mean some of these women were. You couldn't have your own opinion and if you asked a question that was frequently asked, they'd say how annoyed they were by all the similar threads. Needless to say, I just stayed to myself for the most part. Until one day there was a thread asking which screen names you remembered. So, I thought about it and left a comment, I wasn't ignored or laughed at. So, I stayed around and left a few more comments. The topics changed so fast that some days it was hard to keep up, and some days we'd have 2 or 3 threads in one day! But the best part is that with the Bitter Betties (or Bettys, we still bicker about which way it's spelled.) you can be yourself and no one makes fun of you or tells you how stupid you are. We're very open and supportive. Oh, and for the record, I was the winner of 7 BB threads!

I was the last "Bitter Betty" to have my "little bitter baby" (I still claim I should get an award of some sort) and near the end the threads got to be really slow. So we transitioned over to Facebook and have become very close. I actually refer to these ladies as my friends. I know when my day is rough, they'll be there to make me laugh. But when I'm in need, I know I can count on them.

I hope that everyone enjoys us as much as I have. So, if you're ever having a rough day, take a trip and stop by BitterBettyVille!

I have a baby fussing in the bouncer - the washer and dryer running, with 2 more loads at least. Dishes are done, house has been swiffered and the bathroom and bedrooms still need to be cleaned. I have PGA golf on in the background, it's like they're cheering for me because they clap after every shot . But how can I figure out balance?!?

I work 40+ hours a week, attend church and have to figure out time to clean and cook. I'm guessing this will get easier as I go. I just want to know how long until I'll figure it out?!?

March 10, 2011

So I figure - all the successful blogs do it to drum up followers - maybe we should too. So to encourage you all to start reading our blog - which will encourage us to keep writing it - I'd do a giveaway. I don't have a whole lot of money but I am moderately talented at making jewelry so that's what we'll be giving away.

Originally I was going to restrict it to a nursing bling necklace but I feel like establishing a tier system for this giveaway. So those of you who become followers of the blog and aren't an original B(itter)B(etty) post a reply to this and you'll be in a drawing to win a custom piece of jewelry made by me! Once we get 30 followers (total) I'll do a drawing for a nursing bling necklace at 45 followers I'll do a drawing for a magnetic hematite wrap piece and at 60 I will do a drawing for a totally custom piece of jewelry. Here is an image of the nursing bling I've been making for the Bettys:

These are commonly strung on a piece of black nylon cord with a toggle clasp. Ok here is the magnetic hematite piece:

These pieces can be worn any number of ways - it can be a long(ish) or short wrapped choker, a wrapped bracelet, or as pictured above - a style I like to call the rosette. Next is one of my more typical pieces:

This piece involves many different elements - chain, wrap looped bead pieces, charms and a magnetic clasp. So get talking, spread the word and maybe win a nice piece of one of a kind jewelry, designed just for you :)

Firstly - I'd like to apologize - I've been absent - as have the Bettys in general. Let's face it, we are moms and absences like this are bound to happen from time to time. Apology accepted? Good now moving on - I'm finally going to do SCIENCE. I figured this is my area as Micro Betty so once a week I'm going to try to show you all some cool sciency stuff. For this week I want you all to see my favorite science clip. I was shown this for the first time in my cell biology class at WSU and my husband brought it back to my attention a few weeks ago, at which point I decided I wanted to share it with you all.

In essence this video shows all the cellular processes involved in a white blood cell moving through a blood vessel wall in order to find and fight infection. Below the video is a much more detailed layman's description of what is going on. Overall I just think this is a beautiful video that shows the awesome symphony that occurs in our bodies every day. I hope you enjoy this - by the way this video was produced by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Harvard's Molecular and Cellular Biology department.

The opening shot is of blood cells moving through a vessel - mostly red blood cells but the big things rolling along the surface of the vessel are white blood cells. The next shot is of the movement of the white blood cells - they roll along using adhesion molecules, these are the tiny spikes on the surface of the cell (the bumpy thing) and the vessel wall (the flat thing). We then see a magnification of those molecules and how they temporarily join the cell and the vessel wall cells. The next image is referred to as a lipid raft - the surface of cells is made up partially of lipids (fat molecules). These rafts float through the surface of the cell carrying proteins and signaling molecules that direct specific cellular processes. The orange and purple molecules in the next shot are signaling molecules of the vessel wall and the white blood cell (WBC) which trigger a reaction within the cell when the come together. We then see the bottom part of the lipid raft from inside the WBC along with various other cellular structures. The spider web image that is zoomed out on is referred to as the cytoskeleton - an important structural component of cells. The cross hatching we then see is a magnified view of the cytoskeleton showing its component parts called actin filaments. This moves into an image showing how the actin filaments form - the singular actin molecules join together and build the filaments a piece at a time, like legos. The molecules that then attach to the filaments allow for them to come apart and form new junctures. This next part is my favorite bit - the little guy walking along that structure is called a motor protein and he is bringing a vesicle with him - this vesicle brings things from or takes things outside of the cell. In the next big overview image we can see several cellular structures - the mitochondria is the big grey blob on the right, directly behind that is the endoplasmic reticulum, the big thing in the center with all the spikes is the microtubule organizing center with all the microtubules coming out of it (the spikes). We then see pores in the nucleus allowing proteins and messenger RNA molecules into the intracellular space. We see the mRNA then being translated into proteins. Next we see translated proteins being released directly into the endoplasmic reticulum. Shortly after we see the little walking man again a vesicle joins with the cell wall from the inside and embeds proteins into the cell wall. We come back out to see the rolling adhesion from the beginning which leads to the WBC moving between the cells in the vessel wall - most likely to go fight an infection somewhere.

If you'd like a much more succinct and technical version of what is going on you can find it here.